INSIDE COMPLIANCE – Page 5 – Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Profits Over Patients: The DOJ’s Fraud Investigation into UnitedHealth’s Medicare Practices

March 21, 2025Health Insurance, Healthcare Compliance

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a civil fraud investigation into UnitedHealth’s Medicare billing practices, scrutinizing allegations that the company improperly inflated patient diagnoses to secure higher federal payments. While the investigation was publicly announced via the Wall Street Journal recently, it has been underway since 2024. This development follows the December 2024 death of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, which sparked renewed public discourse on the ethics of insurance companies. Many individuals came forward with stories of denied coverage for life-saving treatments, raising broader concerns about the practices of private insurers managing Medicare benefits.

#healthcarefraudDOJFederal health care program exclusionFederal health care programshealth care compliancehealth care fraud and abuseMedicaidMedicare AdvantageMedicare Part DUnitedHealth GroupUnitedHealthcareUnitedHealthServices

Regulating Deepfakes: Strengthening the Fight Against Deceptive Media

March 21, 2025Ethics, technology

In response to the growing threat of deepfake technology, two significant pieces of legislation have emerged: California’s 2024 Deepfake Deception Defense Act and the DEEPFAKES Accountability Act. A deepfake is a digitally altered video or image that uses artificial intelligence to make it appear as though someone is saying or doing something they never actually did. These laws aim to curb the spread of deceptive synthetic media and ensure transparency and accountability in digital content. Both Acts represent progress, but enhanced real-time monitoring, a registry, and a dedicated regulatory body are needed for better deepfake regulation.

AI-generated ContentCentralized RegistryDeepfake Deception Defense ActDeepfake TechnologyDEEPFAKES Accountability ActDigital Content RegulationDigital Media LawEthical AI GovernanceReal-time MonitoringRegulatory BodySynthetic MediaTransparency and Accountability

Nuclear Waste Disposal: A Collective Failure but a Collective Opportunity

March 20, 2025Energy

On Wednesday, March 5th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on two cases involving the licensing of private contractors for disposal of nuclear waste in Texas. The cases focused on two issues: (1) an administrative law question about a third party being able to challenge an agency ruling, and (2) whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) can issue licenses for private companies to operate temporary disposal sites. Ultimately, the holdings will not matter because the underlying problem remains the same. Due to a combination of government inaction and inefficiency, there are no permanent nuclear waste disposal sites in the US.

Department of EnergyNuclear EnergyRegulation

Turning the Page on Censorship: The American School Book Ban Controversy

March 20, 2025Education

Across the United States, waves of book bans are reshaping student’s access to literature. Libraries have been transformed from quiet places to explore new topics into battlegrounds for parents and policymakers to impose their ideological beliefs. During the 2023 – 2024 school year, the United States saw book ban numbers triple from the year prior. The most frequently attacked books were those written by minorities and those providing representation for marginalized students. These important materials address pressing issues, such as racism, gender inequality, identity formation, and the effects of personal trauma. Book bans do a great disservice to the next generation, robbing them of opportunities to explore new ideas and develop crucial critical thinking skills.

American Library Associationbook banningcensorshipEducationEducation Departmentlibraries

The New Salary Cap in College Sports: How it Will Work, Why it is Needed, and the Arguments Against It

March 19, 2025Athletic Regulation, Sports

The overall dynamics of the college sports world has gone through some significant changes over the last few years due to the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), which allows student-athletes to earn payment for sponsorship deals. While this change to the college sports landscape is fairly widely praised, it has raised some significant debate about keeping a competitive balance in the world of college sports, and overall fairness to schools that cannot compete with the vast offers of other programs. This landscape may require a salary cap to alleviate the fairness concerns that arise.

competitionLuxury TaxNCAANIL

Trump’s MAHA Commission: What to Expect

March 14, 2025Food and Drug Law, health

President Trump’s return to the White House has sparked a lot of controversy as he takes extensive executive action and appoints contentious figures to his cabinet. At the top of the list of most controversial is arguably the newly confirmed Secretary of Human Health and Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., because of his skepticism towards vaccines and pharmaceutical drugs like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), used to treat various mental disorders. Despite criticisms, Kennedy gained a large following during his 2024 presidential campaign, where he founded the Make America Healthy Again movement and advocated for public health policies that make American food healthier and end the chronic disease epidemic in this country. Aligned with these initiatives, President Trump has taken extensive action in the first sixty days of his second term to reform public health policy. Among these changes is the newly created Make America Healthy Again Commission, which is chaired by Secretary Kennedy and consists of other cabinet and high-ranking executive officials. The Commission is initially tasked with addressing the childhood chronic disease crisis, specifically targeting nutrition, prescription drug misuse, and government transparency related to ethics and public trust.

FDAhealthHHSMAHAUSDA

Regulating Childhood: Mass Deportations of Unaccompanied Minors

March 13, 2025Department of Justice, Regulation

Undocumented minors are children, and the federal government should treat them as such. The attitude and justifications for harsh immigration policies are deeply rooted in the United States’ history along the Southern border and remain all too prevalent in today’s “tough on crime” approach to immigration. The Trump administration has repeatedly referred to undocumented immigrants as “criminals,” even though more than half of the 43,759 people held in ICE detention facilities have no criminal record. Yet, undocumented children appear to be the latest target of the president’s anti-immigrant crusade.

childrenDepartment of Health & Human ServicesImmigrationTrump Administration

CFPB Faces Uncertain Future: What it Means for Consumers

March 12, 2025Banking, Regulation

The US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a government agency that ensures consumers are “treated fairly by banks, lenders, and other financial institutions.” Along with enforcing consumer protection laws, the CFPB oversees products, like credit cards and mortgages, and investigates complaints regarding dishonest or illegal activity to hold companies accountable. The CFPB has faced controversy about whether or not the agency has too much power. However, the CFPB is currently under increased scrutiny by the Trump administration, which could result in issues with consumer financial protections.

agencyBankingBanking/FinanceCFPBconsumerscreditcredit reportingDOGEFederal Reservefinancial lawgovernmentloansMortgageprotectionsscamswatchdog

Executive Order 14216: What it Means for the Regulatory State

March 7, 2025Journal of Regulatory Compliance, Regulation

On February 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14216, titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” mandating that independent federal agencies route their rules and new actions through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The order aims to enhance presidential oversight over agencies that traditionally operate with a degree of autonomy, like as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The order signifies a substantial shift in the dynamics of the American regulatory state.

DOGEFTCRegulationTrump

Effects of Ongoing Deregulation Under the Trump Administration: DOGE and the Congressional Review Act

March 6, 2025Regulation

Congressional Republicans have faced growing public pushback in early 2025, even from their own voters, regarding their collective inaction as the Trump administration has continued to consolidate power in the executive branch. At the same time, Congressional Republicans have faced increased pressure from the Trump administration, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, to continue to gut regulations and deliver President Trump’s corporate-focused agenda. One method that experts expect Republican lawmakers to utilize in addressing these pressures is the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA allows Congress to repeal recently issued final regulations with only a narrow majority, which could thus lead to harmful deregulation that will likely compound the deregulatory actions already seen by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Congressional Review ActderegulationDOGEEPA